The Clone Wars Weekly Roundup October 13th

There was just a smidge of Clone Wars news this week. You may be familiar with a certain Sith Lord who’s reign was cut short on Naboo. It looks like Mother Talzin’s magic 8 ball was correct, Darth Maul survived.

The Star Wars Report’s own Aaron Goins had a great article regarding the announcement that was made by EW.com and USA Today, including very interesting quotes by Dave Filoni;

“First of all, how does he survive getting cut in half? Plus he fell! And also, don’t forget Obi-Wan Kenobi is still around so I’m sure Maul wouldn’t be very happy with him…“He’s suffered through a lot to keep himself alive and implemented the training of his master to keep himself alive…He’s more than ten years older than he was in The Phantom Menace. That’s immensely satisfying, because now nobody knows what’s going to happen to him. I know, but nobody else does.”

What does this news mean for the show? It certainly sounds like things are about to get interesting on the show. The announcement video was very carefully done to only give us the briefest of glimpses of the animated Maul. The promotional image released also was very carefully cropped to not give too much away regarding the nature of Maul’s physical condition. Personally I would love to see legs that were a transition stage between the very alien legs of General Grevious and the humanoid legs of Darth Vader.

We can infer from the events of last season, some of the episodes with Maul will involve Opress’ search for his brother using the magic Sith talisman that Mother Talzin gave him. What we don’t know is what will happen when the brothers meet each other. I assume they will team up and cut a swath of butt kicking across the galaxy. Sounds like Obi-Wan better watch his back, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Maul goes gunning for Sidious and Tyrannus as well.

We know from the EU that Jedi Masters and Apprentices can sense each others death in the Force, could Palpatine sense Maul’s death or lack of death? Is the Maul that we see in TCW actually the Darth Maul we saw in Episode I? Is this a clone or worse? Does Palpatine know that Maul survived? Was he resurrected in some way?

There is some other TCW related new in that Mother Talzin of the Nightsisters is being woven into the expanded universe. She is one of the in-universe authors of the Book of Sith, the new book by Dan Wallace that received its official announcement today. Don’t be surprised if we see Mother Talzin utilized more in the future as well as she is a very cool character and clearly a design that George liked from the Prequel making process.

Coming up this Friday we get the second part of the Droid duology, featuring the misadventures of C-3PO and R2-D2 in an episode entitled Nomad Droids. The Jedi Fortune Cookie for the episode is a very famous Obi-Wan quote from A New Hope.

“Who’s the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?”

C-3PO and R2-D2’s bizarre caper continues. Forced to escape a Separatist attack in a Y-wing fighter, the droids visit the world of the Patitites, the odd planet Balnab, and the inside of a pirate warship where they are forced to fight in a gladiatorial arena.

After Nomad Droids we get to kick the action into high gear with the Umbara arc, which I cannot wait to see. Check back next week as we roundup all the news and try to shine some light on Umbara and the mysterious General Krell.